Batman v Superman

This film is unusual because it got overwhelmingly bad reviews and a 29% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, but it also got an overwhelmingly good response from the people who have seen the movie. I am siding with the latter. Batman v Superman is actually pretty good. Maybe my expectations had been appropriately lowered but I enjoyed it a lot. I will go into this in detail below, but you should see this movie because:

1. Wonder Woman rocks! Superman and Batman may be sad sacks grinding out the crime fighting but Wonder Woman enjoys her work.
2. Jeremy Irons is The. Best. Alfred. Ever. Sorry Michael Caine.
3. Amy Adams has made Lois Lane into a real character.
4. Jesse Eisenberg IS Lex Luthor.
5. Kryptonite!

The plot of this film is stated in the title and I'm sure you have seen the trailer, but no big spoilers here. The plot of Batman v Superman parallels the upcoming Captain America: Civil War in that some people, Batman (Ben Affleck) included, have decided that Superman (Henry Cavill) is a potentially dangerous vigilante, and he's an Alien! The Senate holds hearings to look into the issue. There are few nice scenes with Holly Hunter as the lead senator. It's nice to see her. But behind the scenes, pulling the strings is Lex Luthor. I'm sure some people find Jesse Eisenberg annoying at times but he was born to play Lex Luthor just as he was born to play Mark Zuckerberg. There may be some similarities between those two characters. Henry Cavill is as stolid as he was in Man of Steel. But that is his character. And Amy Adams as Lois does soften him up a bit. Adams was the best thing in Man of Steel. She is great here too.

Much has been made about the casting of Ben Affleck as Batman. I had my doubts. But the portrayal of Batman as a world-weary crime fighter in his 40's is perfect casting for Affleck. As Batman says, "Criminals are like weeds. If you pull one out, another grows in its place." This is a very different Batman from Dark Knight or its predecessors. For one thing, this Batman likes guns. The juxtaposition of Batman's cynicism with Superman's idealism is nice, and both characters get to evolve a bit during the movie. Which brings me to Alfred. Who would a world-weary Batman want as his Alfred but Jeremy Irons. Irons is always great but he is wonderful here. He steals all the scenes he is in in Batman v Superman. I was wishing he was in the movie more.

Batman v Superman is also setting up the Justice League of America to be the DC version of The Avengers. We are introduced to Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) aka Wonder Woman, who helps out Batman and Superman against Luther. And believe me they need the help. We also see short scenes with The Flash and Aquaman, who will join the other three superheroes in Justice League in 2017. Gadot is good. You might remember her from the Fast and Furious movies.

This is a superhero movie with lots of fights and trashing of cities. Both Gotham City and Metropolis get trashed. And it's a bit long at 2 1/2 hours, but it's surprisingly good. Besides all the characters I mentioned, Perry White (Laurence Fishburne), Ma and Pa Kent (Diane Lane & Kevin Costner) return. The casting throughout is great. Oh, yes, and did I mention that there is Kryptonite! Spoiler alert, it is the green variety. So ignore the reviews (other than this one) and join the throngs at the movie theatre.